Late Show 2011 Blog - Lesson Learned? by @lucyjpayne #llbs

Lesson Learned?

As you start reading this post you are probably thinking - “who is she?” and you’d be very right in thinking that. In all honesty, I am no-one special. I am Lucy Payne, I work in Social Media Marketing, I have lived in London for 5 Months, and I am speaking at January’s Late Late Breakfast show. Why? Because apparently, I have something to say. Clearly I shoot my opinionated Welsh mouth off way too much, because for the second month in a row I’ve agreed to speak in public.

At the start of December I spoke at TechMap Monday about what I’ve learned in Social Media this year, but don’t worry I won’t be boring you with more of that Social Media stuff. Although I will be talking about the things I have learned. Why? Because I have a passion for learning. I think the best knowledge anyone can impart is knowledge they have learned. It may have been an easy lesson, or it may have been a nightmare to get to grasps with, but inevitably there will always be takeaways that I can benefit from. Since moving to London last July, I have spent an awful lot of my time (not that I’m complaining mind) meeting new people, and attending events where individuals have spoken about a variety of things, the reason for this; my thirst for knowledge. The speaker I felt that I benefited most from was Richard Sedley, and although his content was brilliant, this isn’t what aided my learning the most, it was the way he approached his audience. Sedley had clearly thought about what he wanted his listeners to take from his talk, his approach was concise and easy to follow. Sedley shared 3 things with us;

What I know

What I have learned

What I don’t know

Yes I agree, focusing on what you want the audience to take away is nothing new! But, I really think it’s rare that someone does this really well. People are usually invited to speak in public because they are really passionate about something. This doesn’t always lend its self well to being clear, simple and concise. So the lesson I learned from this? I could do better, and I am determined that I will!